Supermarket to Cuomo: We want the I Love NY highway signs

A USA TODAY Network review of 3,000 pages of contracting documents shows the state paid extra and used emergency contracts to get the tourism-related highway signs up by July 4.
Jon Campbell / Albany Bureau

ALBANY — A regional supermarket with a devoted following thinks it has a solution to a years-long dispute between Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration and the federal government.

Stew Leonard's, the Connecticut-based chain with locations in Yonkers and on Long Island, is offering to take the I Love NY highway signs off the state's hands, vowing to display them in its stores instead.

The state has until Sept. 30 to take them down and have the $14 million restored.

"Stew Leonard’s wants to take the politics out of loving New York and give these signs a legal, and permanent, home," the company wrote in a press release Tuesday.

Stew Leonard Jr., the company's CEO, wants to "recognize and honor the hundreds of New York farmers who supply produce, dairy, and meats, by displaying these signs for everyone to see,"

Feud history

The blue highway signs tout the logos of the state's tourism programs, including I Love NY, Taste NY and state parks.

Cuomo's administration spent $8.1 million installing the signs, which first popped up in 2014 before they were dramatically expanded in 2016.

They did so despite a 2013 order from the Federal Highway Administration prohibiting them from installing the signs, which violate various rules meant to keep roadway signage uniform from state to state.

The federal regulators say the signs are a dangerous distraction for drivers, forcing them to repeatedly take their eyes off the road for information that isn't pertinent while they're driving.

The state says the signs aren't a danger and haven't resulted in any incidents.

In a statement last week, state DOT spokesman Joseph Morrissey said the agency is continuing to negotiate with the federal highway officials.

"We are in ongoing discussions with FHWA and fully expect to have a mutually beneficial agreement in place well before the September deadline," he said.